27 September 2010

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund releases a hard-hitting new web video entitled "What Will You Lose?" to explain what is at stake for the LGBT community. And there are dozens of reasons to vote in November, from health care reform to the Supreme Court. Most important: Preventing anti-gay conservatives from controlling Congress.

22 September 2009

The Democratic National Committee voted last week to welcome six new LGBT members appointed by DNC Chair and Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine. One of the new LGBT members includes black pride activist and political consultant Earl Fowlkes, "believed to be the only African American openly LGBT person" on the 447 member body.

The Washington DC-based Fowlkes is a member of the board of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, an arm of the Victory Fund, and president of the International Federation of Black Prides.

The DNC also welcomed Barbra Casbar Siperstein, a transgender woman to its ranks, "the first time that a major U.S. political party has appointed an openly transgender person to its national governing body," reports the Washington Blade. The other LGBT appointees include: Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund co-founder Terry Bean; Evan Low, a member of the Campbell (CA) City Council; Sheriff Lupe Valdez of Dallas; and Randi Weingarten of New York City, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

29 June 2009

Forty years after the Stonewall riots sparked the gay rights movement, President Barack Obama hosts an historic reception for LGBT activists and their families to honor LGBT Pride and the 40th Stonewall anniversary. The speech, carried live on CNN and other networks, marks the first time a sitting president has given a live televised speech on LGBT issues.

"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Mr. Obama said at a reception for LGBT Pride Month at the White House. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient anymore than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago."

"But I say this: We have made progress," the president continued. "And we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps."

Obama spoke about the "movement" created some 40 years ago: "The riots at Stonewall gave way to protests, and protests gave way
to a movement, and the movement gave way to a transformation that
continues to this day. It continues when a partner fights
for her right to sit at the hospital bedside of a woman she loves; it
continues when a teenager is called a name for being different and
says, 'So what if I am?'; it continues in your work and in your
activism, in your fight to freely live your lives to the fullest."

The list of attendees was forwarded by the White House Press Office to Rod 2.0. (Full list AFTER THE JUMP.) Invited guests included openly gay Administration officials such as Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and Asst. Labor Secretary Mary Beth Maxwell. Leading LGBT advocates such as Human Rights Campaign's Joe Solmonese, and Jarrett Barrios, the new president of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

An historic occasion and we should be mindful of the progress being made and how much further we have to go. It was also a pleasure to hear Obama allude to the black Civil Rights Movement. The occasion would have been more meaningful if there were more substantive policy initiatives to announce. The guest list was pleasantly diverse ... but very Stonewall 1.5. Online LGBT activists are leading the fight for equality and none were represented. Very out of character with the Facebook, YouTube and BlackBerry-driven White House.